Until the End
by Sunshine170
Summary: How could she tell him she wasn't strong enough to do this on her own? How could she even bring herself to care about anything else if he was gone? What did she have left to fight for if he wasn't by her side? AU for S5 finale.


It's not calculated… his death, random in a way that's almost callous, a stray bullet in a pattern of fire that could have hit anyone.

Except it's not anyone. It's Peter who falls to the ground on his knees. Peter who looks almost as stunned as her as he looks down to see the patch of red forming on his chest.

Peter who mouths her name silently as their eyes meet before he collapses in a heap on the ground.

Her world comes to a grinding halt in that second. Time simply freezes. She sees nothing, hears nothing, thinks of nothing except the fact that she needs to be near him as fast as her feet will take her. She rushes to him then, military sharp impulses kicking in where her mind would not. Somehow without being hit herself (not that she would even notice), she manages to help him to his feet, leading him to the closest alley, the only thing in that moment that affords little if any protection.

She helps him sit up and kneels in front of him, her mind a blank of nothingness in that second, her hand reaching out to touch the wound, feeling where the bullet had ripped through him.

It's only a matter of minutes before he bleeds out. An inevitable countdown, already in motion. There is nothing she can do.

"Peter…" She looks at him helplessly trying to form words, the shock still paralyzing her as they both stare at the steady trickle oozing out of his chest in morbid fascination.

"Guess I messed up huh?" He laughs weakly and Olivia feels something implode within her at the way he says it.

He was going to die in front of her eyes and she wouldn't be able to do a thing, the last straw in a lifetime of devastation.

The one that might just break her.

She can feel herself unravelling as the truth sinks in, her senses already dulling to the battle that rages on around them, mind disengaging from everything she was fighting for so desperately just moments ago.

War didn't do timeouts. But what did she care? What did it matter anymore?

She was done.

If this was going to be the end for him, well then, the world could do her a favor and take her too.

He takes her hand away from his wound then where she was futilely trying to maintain pressure, squeezing it, almost like he can sense the shift in her. "It's okay Liv. I am gonna be fine. Go back out there. You've have to finish this." He whispers, each word a visible strain on the life force that was ebbing out of at an alarming pace.

"No." She shakes her head stubbornly, her voice broken, weak like someone had ripped out her vocal chords along with her heart. The tears make their way down her face in torrents and she can barely breathe. "No… I won't leave you. I can't…"

"You have to." He brings a bloody hand to her face, futilely swiping away at the wetness. "There's nothing you can do for me. You know that."

"I don't care." She sobs, cradling him closer, her voice hitching as she breaks down. Never has she meant it more. There are many things she could have survived, many things she has survived. But this is not something she was strong enough to absorb. It hurts in a way nothing ever has, nothing ever will again. Like a colossal dam within her had burst and was drowning her from the inside, suffocating her core. "I won't leave you."

"Please Liv. We're so close…" She hears him say, his voice already fainter, sounding distant. "For Etta…"

"Don't do this to me." She gives him a furious look, a sudden surge of anger pushing through her veins. Damn him for trying to pull that card on her. "Please… I can't."

"You can. You're the only one who can." He squeezes her hand again then, stronger this time, the metal of his wedding ring hot against her skin.

"Look at me." He tells her holding her gaze, something like hope still burning in eyes that were already losing their light. "It's gonna be okay. We're gonna be fine. We're gonna have her back. We're not going to lose each other. I promise."

She stares into his eyes, unable to articulate her anguish. How could she tell him she wasn't strong enough to do this on her own? How could she even bring herself to care about anything else if he was gone?

What did she have left to fight for if he wasn't by her side?

She nods then, standing up, mustering every little bit of strength she can find to leave his side.

To go back and fight, to save the world all over again.

"I'll hold you to it." She says then, managing a weak smile even as the tears continue to wrack her body. She turns around before her resolve weakened. Before she succumbed and gave up, even if that's all she wanted to do right now.

"I love you." She hears him say.

Somewhere within her she feels something die, and knows in that moment he's gone then.

She doesn't look back.


End file.
